


Go Forth and Have No Fear

by orphan_account



Series: When Our Worlds Collide [2]
Category: DCU (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crossover, Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6276253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can’t believe you two missed another universe crashing into ours,” is the first thing Bucky says when Natasha and Clint walk in, probably with more mock-accusation than strictly necessary. </p>
<p>“Okay, first of all, it’s kind of hard to miss something that affected literally the whole universe, so that’s not even true,” Clint says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go Forth and Have No Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to We've Come Too Far, probably won't make much sense without having read that?
> 
> Title from "Renegades" by X Ambassadors.
> 
> Any relationships from the last story that aren't listed here still exist! But they aren't really mentioned, and Diana/Sif is the only new one, so it's the only background ship I've tagged.

“I can’t believe you two missed another universe crashing into ours,” is the first thing Bucky says when Natasha and Clint walk in, probably with more mock-accusation than strictly necessary. 

“Okay, first of all, it’s kind of hard to miss something that affected literally the whole universe, so that’s not even true,” Clint says, and he walks over and drops down onto the couch next to Bucky. Bucky obligingly lifts his arm, and Clint slumps against his chest, letting his eyes droop. “Secondly, uh.” He pauses, thinks, then shrugs awkwardly where he’s pressed against Bucky’s side. “I don’t know where I was gonna go with that. I wish we’d been here instead of wherever the fuck it was we ended up.”

He seems completely exhausted, and the way he shifts makes it seem like he’s in pain. Bucky’s still not entirely certain what the mission they were sent on was, exactly, but they’d left not long after the first portal spat out a few of their new friends -- including Bucky’s new soulmate, so okay, they should probably sit down and actually have this conversation.

“Well you did miss me meeting my new soulmate,” He says, because he figures it’s better to just say it instead of avoiding the topic for days trying to figure out how best to bring it up -- and that would most likely end with them finding out some other way, which is definitely not something he wants to happen. That never ends well.

“What, did you happen to run into a hospital and save a newborn child with your mark or something?” Clint asks, and at least he’s not entirely out of it. Bucky rolls his eyes.

“You do realize I was like 55 when you were born, right?” He asks, and Clint makes a face. “Also, why does everyone keep going _there_? I really doubt I’d get a soulmate that I’d meet before they can even talk, that’s not how it works.”

“It was one of those heroes that showed up, wasn’t it?” Natasha, who somehow managed to leave the room and come back without Bucky noticing, perches on the arm of the sofa on Clint’s other side.

Bucky nods. “You should probably meet him. I’d rather figure out everyone’s boundaries before going much further.” He’s thought about it, and it’s been a bit weird, honestly. Clint and Natasha were soulmates too, so when they really talked about having Bucky’s marks the first time, it was all -- well, not quite straightforward, but there weren’t any conflicts of interest at the time. Steve had known them for a while by then, too, and he trusted them, so that conversation was pretty easy.

Bucky knows he’s the only one of any of his soulmates to get a new mark now, though, and Clark is a total unknown to Clint and Natasha, so he thinks that conversation’s gonna be a bit more complicated than the one that got him here. Here, where Clint’s leaned against his left side and shoved his face against Bucky’s neck, where he doesn’t even hesitate to wrap the metal arm around Clint’s shoulders, where Natasha’s got one hand in Clint’s hair and occasionally brushes against Bucky’s skin as she rubs his scalp.

He’s hoping it all works out. He likes Clark, but he likes what he has now, too, and he doesn’t really want to lose any of it if he can avoid it.

 

Bucky’s reading in the common area of the new facility when he hears voices -- two very familiar voices, and by the time he stands up, Clint and Clark are walking into the room. “Hey,” Bucky says, and he hopes his voice doesn’t sound as weak as it feels.

“Hey, look who just found me on the roof!” Clint says cheerfully. “And I mean seriously, he landed right next to me, I nearly fell off I was so startled. He doesn’t make nearly as much noise as Thor does.” He looks fine, though, and unconcerned.

Bucky’s pretty sure Clint’s connected the dots -- he’s seen Bucky’s new mark, and Clark’s uniform is not exactly inconspicuous. He’s not sure how much Clark’s figured out, though, so he turns to him. “Clark, this is Clint Barton. He’s, ah.” Bucky gestures at his left ear.

“I did notice the hearing aids,” Clark says. “I’ll be sure to be less stealthy in the future.” Which is great, but not what Bucky was going for.

“He’s my soulmate,” He says, turning his head to the side and gesturing more firmly at the purple mark on his ear. Understanding dawns on Clark’s face, then.

He turns to face Clint and holds out his hand, which Clint shakes with amusement in his eyes. “It’s great to meet you.” Clark seems a bit hesitant, and continues, “I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely clear on the etiquette here.”

Clint just grins, though, and Clark seems to relax a bit. “We should probably wait for Natasha before we have any deep conversations, but you’re doing fine so far.”

Bucky relaxes then himself, and he turns to Clark and asks, “What are you doing here?”

Clark actually blushes at that, and Bucky raises his eyebrows. “I went by the tower and you weren’t there; Tony told me you’d be here, so I flew over.”

“You flew across the country to see me?” Bucky asks, and he forcibly keeps his hands by his sides, fighting the urge to reach out. Clark shrugs, and Clint lets out a snort.

“You know you don’t need my permission to kiss in front of me, right?” He asks, starting to wander out of the room.

“I was being polite,” Bucky replies, letting the snark color his tone, but he steps forward into Clark’s space and raises a hand to his face. “I think the last time someone crossed a country to see me, I was running from the government and at least two other organizations. This is certainly much nicer than that was.”

Clark smiles, and Bucky leans in and kisses him.

 

When they are all available and actually have the conversation, it goes more smoothly than Bucky had expected. In the end, it pretty much amounts to “We’re dating him, and he’s dating you, but we aren’t your soulmates and currently have no interest in pursuing anything with you,” and everyone agrees on that arrangement, and there was probably a lot more talk in there but Bucky’s just grateful that it ended that well.

 

Clark, Diana and Bruce are at the facility discussing a threat -- one of their old villains, apparently, and they thought it important to share what they know about them -- when the bifrost opens up on the other side of the window and Thor and Sif step out. Bucky hasn’t actually spoken with Sif, but Thor and Jane always speak highly of her and when he waves at them both through the window, she offers a nod and a small smile.

When he turns back to the others, they all have some confusion on their face, and he wishes that he wasn’t the only one here who could introduce them, because he’s not entirely sure where to start.

“Ah, this is Thor, and Sif,” He says, waving in their direction as they enter the building.

“They’re named after Norse legends?” Bruce asks, and Bucky shakes his head.

“They’re the beings the legends were based on,” He says.

“It is good to see you again,” Thor says when he approaches, and he claps a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “I take is these are some of our new friends?”

Bucky opens his mouth to make introductions, but Sif shakes her head, rolling her eyes. “He’s asking out of courtesy; we’ve had Heimdall watching and telling us what’s been happening down here.” She walks up to the three, though. “It is an honor to finally meet you.”

“We have been studying this occurrence in Asgard, but it was decided that some personal observation would help us.” Thor says. “And by that I mean Sif wished to meet the lady Diana in person and convinced me to come with her.” He’s smiling, and only laughs when Sif throws him a weak glare.

Bucky sees Diana’s eyes widen, and he sees her swallow before stepping forward. “Well, it is a great honor to meet you, Lady Sif,” Diana says, offering her hand.

Bucky can see a spark in the air just before their hands actually meet, and when they do, he hears Sif inhale sharply, and an elaborate pattern starts weaving up from their hands around their wrists and forearms. Thor, for his part, looks delighted at the development. 

“I cannot say I was expecting this,” Sif says, and Bucky’s clearly not the only one confused.

Thor, thankfully, is more observant than most would give him credit for. “It is a soul marking. Since Asgardians live such long lives compared to some other races, the marks appear at first contact so as to avoid any case of getting a mark and losing it before any chance of meeting.” The markings have finally settled, and Sif’s grip on Diana’s hand loosens, but neither lets go.

The pattern on Diana’s arm is a silvery-gray, and it actually seems to shine on her skin. Sif’s marks, on the other hand, are a rich gold, with a deep red lining the shadows. Bucky finds himself meeting Clark’s eyes, and they silently agree to give them some space. Clark grasps Bruce’s shoulder briefly on his way out, and Bruce follows him easily. 

Thor starts walking with Bucky when he reaches him, and once they’re out of earshot, he says, “I have not often seen the bonding of two others in person. It is a wonderful thing to witness.”

Bucky nods. “Our marks almost seem sad in comparison,” He jokes, but Thor looks at him seriously.

“Any bond between two souls is a beautiful thing, and no less so for the mark you wear from it.” He frowns for a moment. “You have the certainty of meeting a soulmate once a mark appears, but we do not know if we will bond until it happens. In many ways, I envy that.” He turns his gaze back ahead, then, and Bucky finds himself still thinking about that long after.

 

One day, Bucky walks into his apartment to see Steve and Clark standing in the middle of the room staring at each other, arms crossed.

“Uh,” he says, because he knows they’ve already met and discussed the soulmate stuff, and he’s not sure what’s going on. Neither of them turn to look at him. Finally, Clark looks away and sighs, and Steve grins and pumps his fist in the air. “What exactly is going on here?” Bucky asks.

“Nothing,” Clark says swiftly, but the grin on Steve’s face says otherwise.

“It’s not mine to tell,” Steve says, though, when Bucky looks at him. “I’ll see you later, Buck.” And with that, he leaves.

Bucky watches him leave, and then turns and looks at Clark, who seems nervous. “I’ll tell you later,” Clark says.

Bucky resist the urge to push it, because Clark hasn’t actually lied to him about anything yet, and Bucky trusts him, even though they haven’t known each other long. Maybe it’s because of the marks, or maybe just because Clark seems like an honest person, but Bucky doesn’t feel the need to worry about it.

 

Overall, the population seems pretty calm about the fact that two universes have somehow become one -- what Bucky doesn’t understand is how the world isn’t struggling to deal with having twice as many people on it.

“There are a lot of people who existed in both universes who seem to have simply merged with their other selves,” Tony says, when Bucky mentions it offhand. “The bigger problem is the ones who only existed in the other universe and have no idea what soulmarks are or why they suddenly have them.”

Bucky remembers when they first had to explain the soulmates thing, and yeah, depending on how many people there are that simply don’t know, it could get messy. “How could they ‘merge’ with their other selves, though?” He asks. “They might be the same person but they’re from different worlds. They have to have led different lives, right?”

Tony shrugs, but he does look somewhat concerned. “The only ones I’ve actually spoken with have said that they just have memories from two lives,” He says. “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“Yeah, no one we know has _ever_ experienced anything like that before,” Bucky says, tone heavy with sarcasm. Tony rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, okay, but this is different,” He says. “I mean, these people have two sets of memories for basically every event in their lives. They could have had two different birthday parties for the same year and when they try to remember it, they might not be able to tell the difference. In one life they could have been adopted, while in the other they’re raised by a single parent, and their memories throughout pretty much all their childhood would be split into two sets. That’s gotta mess with your head.”

 

Bucky jerks awake, heart pounding, and when he rolls to the side and sits at the edge of the bed, he hears Clint shift behind him. He fumbles for the light and looks down at his stomach, and his sigh of relief shudders out of him almost painfully.

“What was it?” Natasha asks, climbing over Clint to sit beside him.

“I dreamed that it wasn’t real,” Bucky says, holding his hand over the mark. Natasha wraps her arm around his shoulders.

 

When Bucky turns and sees Clark buckle under a glowing green fist, he immediately runs over and punches the cyborg in the face. With the metal arm. He doesn’t go far, but Clark’s able to stand again. Once Bucky confirms Clark’s alright for the time being, he walks the few steps over and punches the cyborg again, and a third time, and that’s when Rhodey finally makes it to them and is able to drag the guy away.

Bucky turns to Clark. “You alright?” He asks, his voice edging on frantic. He takes Clark’s face in his hands and looks at him carefully, hovering a thumb just above the scrape on his cheek.

“I will be,” Clark says, and then, “Have dinner with me tonight.”

Bucky stills, looking him in the eye. “Dinner?”

“I’ve realized that for all we’ve done, we haven’t actually gone on a proper date.” Clark’s smile is crooked, and a little sheepish. “So, dinner?”

Bucky nods. “Yeah, alright.”

 

The date is -- pretty incredible, honestly. Clark shows up with flowers at his door, and thankfully he doesn’t seem upset when Bucky laughs, just pleased. The restaurant is nice, but it’s not so fancy that he feels out of place, and he just -- feels comfortable the whole time.

They end up walking through a park nearby. The sky is remarkably clear, and holding Clark’s hand as the sun goes down leaves Bucky feeling very warm. It seems almost too mundane when he thinks about it, going on a walk through a park after a dinner-date, and he almost laughs at how different it seems to how most of his days go.

He turns and looks at Clark, at the way the sunset paints his face gold, and he thinks for a moment before speaking. “Has it been long enough that you can tell me what happened with you and Steve a while back?”

Clark looks back at him and they stop walking. He smiles and looks down for a moment, before looking back into the sunset. “He figured something out and thought I should tell you,” He says.

“And what was that?” Bucky asks.

Clark takes a deep breath, and then: “I love you.”

Bucky feels himself freeze, and he has a brief moment of panic at not being able to say anything before he pretty much just says ‘ _fuck it_ ’ to himself and kisses Clark.

“Yeah?” He says when he pulls away, and he’s far too breathless for such a short kiss, but frankly he doesn’t really care.

“Yeah,” Clark says, and Bucky smiles wide.

“I love you too,” Bucky says, and Clark’s smile puts the beauty of the sunset to shame.

**Author's Note:**

> apparently I am a horrible sap, now. wonderful.
> 
> The kind of weaving pattern I was trying to describe with Sif and Diana is a nordic-knot style, like [here](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/be/aa/da/beaada9137425b8ffda02c456710fd22.gif).
> 
> I might almost regret this one more than the first one honestly. Thanks, anxiety.
> 
> Come find me on tumblr at nxtalias!


End file.
